


Curve Ruiner, Meet Heartbreaker

by McBangle



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Femslash February, Fluff, Misunderstandings, Molly Hooper Appreciation, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, minor appearances by other characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-23 16:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9665975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McBangle/pseuds/McBangle
Summary: Medical student Molly Hooper and Criminal Justice major Sally Donovan meet in university when they are paired as lab partners in Criminal Justice 260. If they can get past both of their reputations, this could work out quite nicely indeed.Written in 7 chapters for Molly Hooper Appreciation Week 2017.





	1. Your Reputation Precedes You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to [ellipsical](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellipsical/pseuds/Ellipsical) for beta'ing this! 
> 
> Day 1: I Knew I ___ You Before I Met You (Fanworks focusing on reputations before they meet)

“Oh _god_.” Stella flopped onto her bed and dropped her phone on the ground. She reached behind her head, grabbed a squash ball off her desk and bounced it off the ceiling.

“What’s up your arse?” Sally asked. Stella was a good roommate – well, about as good as Sally could expect if the uni was going to force her to live with someone – but she had a definite flair for the dramatic. After a year of living together, Sally had learned not to get overly concerned when Stella threw a strop. Any bit of mundane news could be the end of the world as far as Stella was concerned.

“That was Janine. She told me that she had heard from Meena that _Molly Hooper_ is taking our section of CRIM 260 this semester.” She pronounced “Molly Hooper” as if that name were supposed to mean something to Sally.

“So?”

Stella turned and looked Sally in the eye. “So, neither you nor I are going to get top marks in CRIM 260.”

Sally shot upright. “Like hell I’m not. And can you stop that? You’re giving me a headache.” She grabbed the squash ball out of the air just before it hit Stella’s hand.

Stella pulled a face. “Good luck with that. None of us will stand a chance with Molly Hooper in our section.”

Sally stared at Stella blankly.

“Molly Hooper? The curve ruiner? You’ve _got_ to know her,” Stella implored.

Sally searched her memory, but the name wasn’t ringing any bells. “Is she a Criminal Justice major?”

Stella shook her head. “No, she’s in the MBBS programme.”

Sally snorted. “Why would I know or care about some medical student?”

“Do you seriously never talk to anyone outside of Criminal Justice?” Stella asked incredulously. Sally shrugged. “She’s, like, _disgustingly_ smart. She ruins the curve in every course she takes. Half the medical school resents her. The other half wants to figure out her secret so they can get her marks. And now she’s taking Bio-Psycho-Social Basis of Crime in _our_ section! We’ll score marks in the 60s. _If_ we’re lucky.”

“The hell I will.” Sally threw Stella’s squash ball _hard_ against the wall, narrowly missing Stella’s head. “I don’t know who the hell this Molly Hooper thinks she is, but no med student is keeping me from getting top marks in this course.”

* * *

“…And we’re going to learn about the underpinnings of criminal behaviour, and there’s a lab, and sure it’ll be a lot of work juggling an elective on top of a full course load but my advisor approved it because of how dedicated I am to pursuing the field of forensic pathology and they might even waive my behavioural science requirement if I…”

“Okay, I get it,” Meena laughed. “It sounds terrific. Only you would get so excited over taking an elective on top of the rest of our coursework.”

“I just really feel like I’m finally starting to do what I’m meant to be doing, Meena.” Molly grabbed her friend’s forearm with both hands. “Aside from Gross Anatomy and PrinClinMed, we’ve been sitting in a lecture hall for practically three straight years learning about molecules and cells and chemical reactions. Aren’t you ready to finally do something practical?”

“Sure,” Meena shrugged. “I can’t wait to get into hospital. _Next_ year. But I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to take a criminal justice course. For you, I get it,” she raised a hand, silencing Molly’s protest. “This is what you want to do with your life. I just want to start seeing patients!”

“Oh, I do too,” Molly agreed, a bit quicker than was entirely necessary. “I definitely want to start clinicals. Isn’t that why we all went to medical school?” She laughed nervously. “Although…” she cleared her throat. “I suppose I like it a bit better when I don’t actually have to talk to the patients.”

Meena laughed. “Oh, don’t even pretend like you’re dying to be Meredith Grey. We all know you’re a born pathologist.” She wrapped an arm about Molly’s shoulders. “My little Molly, studying Criminal Justice and getting ready to pursue her dream!” she sighed melodramatically.

“I really don’t like it when you call me your ‘little Molly,’ I’m just as old as you are,” Molly protested, shrugging off her arm.

“Just be careful around those Criminal Justice students, some of them can be real flirts,” Meena warned. “I hooked up with a Criminal Justice major last year, and she was a total commitment-phobe. Sally something, I think. Absolutely gorgeous. Stay away from Sally something, she’ll break your heart.”

Molly laughed. “You don’t have anything to worry about, I’ll hardly have time for dating. Besides, who’d want to date me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sally is in the second year of a four-year Criminal Justice bachelor's degree programme; Molly is in the third year of a five-year Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme. 
> 
> "PrinClinMed" = Principles of Clinical Medicine, because in my experience students will always abbreviate a long course name.
> 
> Although I researched Criminal Justice and MBBS programmes, there may yet be inaccuracies here. Feel free to let me know if there is anything glaring, and I will fix it if I can.


	2. Lab at First Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Molly Hooper Appreciation Week, Day 2: ___ At First Sight (Fanworks focusing on first meetings)
> 
> _Sally would crush the CRIM 260 lab. This so-called curve-ruiner, Molly Hooper, would be crying in her beer over how well Sally was going to do in this lab. And if she had to put up with a mouse for a lab partner, well, that was nothing more than a bump in the road on the way to top marks._

Stella couldn’t believe Sally had signed up for the optional lab section. Her exact words had been “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Of course she was taking the lab. She wasn’t going to take a course and skip out on the lab, optional or not. It was fine. It was _definitely_ fine. She would _crush_ the lab. This so-called curve-ruiner would be crying in her beer over how well Sally was going to do in this lab.

And if she had to put up with a mouse for a lab partner, well, that was nothing more than a bump in the road on the way to top marks.

Sally gauged her lab partner – misshapen floral jumper, ponytail, no makeup. Probably a psych student trying out a “fun” elective who didn’t give two shites about criminal justice. Sally decided to set her straight right from the outset.

“Listen,” she turned to her startled partner. “I’m here to learn, OK? I’m going to be a DI at Scotland Yard one day – that’s a Detective Inspector. I’m going to learn, I’m going to give my best effort, and if you’re my lab partner then I expect the same of you.”

The silly git flushed. “Pardon?”

Sally waved her off. “Just don’t hold me back, yeah? I’ve got to get top marks in this class. There’s already some medical student ruining the curve, I don’t need a slacker lab partner dragging down my marks.”

The girl actually snorted, her hand hovering over her mouth.

“You don’t think I can get top marks?” Sally snapped. She’d had enough of people underestimating her, she wasn’t going to take it from some prissy little…

“I’m sure you can, I just haven’t had a chance to introduce myself yet.” She stuck out her hand. “Molly Hooper, curve-ruiner.”

Sally stared at her. This shrinking violet was the medical student Stella was so intimidated by?

She considered her situation. “I’ve got the curve-ruiner for a lab partner?”

Molly smiled brightly in return.

Sally nodded her head. “This could work.” She’d just started to flash a smile of her own at the medical student when a thought occurred to her. “But wait, medical school is hard, innit?”

“I think so.”

“You’re not just taking this course as a burn class are you? A blow-off between dissections?”

Molly looked positively offended. “Are you serious? You think I would take a criminal justice elective _with_ the optional lab section _on top of_ a full load of medical studies _as a blow-off_?”

“When you put it that way…” Sally ran a hand across the back of her neck.

“I’m here to learn, too,” Molly raised her voice just loudly enough so that Sally hear how serious she was. “I’m going to be a forensic pathologist. One day I’ll be working at the Yard with you.”

Sally smirked. “Well all right, then. I think we’ll get along just fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CRIM 260 - The Bio-Psycho-Social Basis of Crime - is my best attempt at a Criminal Justice course with lab section of potential interest to a future forensic pathologist. It is loosely based on course curricula I found online, although I have to admit I am still not clear on what they would do in the lab.


	3. Galentine's Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Molly Appreciation Week Day 3: Valentine’s Day/Galentine’s Day/Single’s Awareness Day
> 
> Molly invites her distractingly attractive lab partner, Sally, over for a Galentine's Day get-together. Will romance blossom over cheap wine and cheesy rom coms? *Cough cough cough* Yes it will! *cough*

The Bio-Psycho-Social Basis of Crime was a fantastic course. Molly was so grateful to her advisor for approving this elective. She’d learned so much fascinating information! The T.A. in her lab section had picked up on her enthusiasm and introduced her to a couple of the faculty, including a forensic pathologist who had promised to write a letter of reference for her.

If there was a drawback to this course – and of course there was, in Molly’s experience there was a drawback to everything – it was the lecturer. He was a bit… dry. Not the worst lecturer Molly had ever had – her Cell Bio prof had a way of putting even the most driven students to sleep – but having already read far ahead in the textbook, Molly was finding it difficult to concentrate in class.

And sitting next to Sally Donovan only added to the distraction.

Molly had won the lab partner lottery. Sally was… well, she was just amazing. Hard working, determined, dryly funny, and so pretty it was almost hard to look at her. Well, maybe not _that_ hard. When Sally wasn’t looking, Molly would sneak glances at her face. The way the tip of her tongue would poke out of the corner of her mouth when she was working on a difficult task. The way her face would harden when someone underestimated her. Her dazzling smile when she was happy – particularly when she directed it at Molly.

Which she was doing at that exact moment.

“I know what you’re thinking, and I’m thinking the same thing,” Sally smiled conspiratorially.

How Molly kept herself from jumping out of her seat, she’d never know.

“Get on with it, yeah?” Sally rolled her eyes. “Will he never reach the point? I swear, I would skip the lecture and just teach myself from the readings if it weren’t for the pleasant company.” She bumped her shoulder against Molly’s at that, her face only inches from Molly’s.

Molly flushed. “Er… yeah. Yeah.” She took a deep breath and smiled tightly, trying valiantly not to let her nerves show. “It’s nearly the fourteenth. Did you have any plans?”

Sally crooked a smile. “Well, what are you asking me, Miss Hooper?”

“Galentine’s Day.”

Sally squinted her eyes and tilted her head. “What, now?”

“It’s a tradition between my friend Mary and me,” Molly explained. “The night before Valentine’s Day we get together, drink some wine, eat some curry, and watch terrible rom-coms all night. I’m hosting this year and I thought, well, maybe you could…” She shook her hand in front of her face, as if she could rub out her words like a dry-erase board. “Never mind. It’s stupid. You probably have much more exciting plans.”

“Not at all,” Sally cut in. “Wine, curry and bad movies sounds perfect.”

“Great. That’s great!” Molly breathed a sigh of relief. “Come by ‘round seven?”

“I’ll bring a bottle,” Sally smiled.

“Cheap wine,” Molly advised. “It’s part of our tradition.” She rolled her eyes and shrugged.

“Even better,” Sally chuckled. “I’ll bring the cheapest bottle I can find.”

* * *

Sally arrived, bottle in hand, just as Molly was paying the delivery man. “Perfect timing!” If Sally were a bit less experienced and much less cool, she would have melted at the way Molly smiled at her as Sally handed her the bottle. She looked positively adorable in a pink belted dress dotted in red hearts. Sally felt a bit underdressed in her oversized jumper and skinny jeans.

“Come on in, Mary’s picking out our movie selections.” Molly gestured Sally into her cozy studio flat. Sally toed off her shoes at the shoe rack next to the door and then followed her inside.

Sally had been over for a study session before the last exam, but she’d been too stressed to take it all in. For a busy MBBS student, Molly kept her flat remarkably tidy and homey. The doorway was flanked by a kitchenette on one side and the loo on the other. Just beyond the half-wall separating the kitchenette from the rest of the flat, a desk was piled high with textbooks and papers next to a full bookshelf.

On the other side of the flat, a floral futon was festooned with a remarkable selection of mismatched-yet-colour-coordinated throw pillows and an afghan thrown over the back. An only slightly worn mahogany coffee table sat atop a colourful braided rug. A cute blonde woman squinted at a laptop computer while sitting cross-legged on a comfortable looking, albeit faded, armchair next to the futon. Sally was relieved to see that the other woman was dressed in a hoodie and ripped jeans.

“This is my friend Mary,” Molly gestured toward the blonde. “She’s a nursing student. Please, make yourselves friendly while I get our plates and glasses.”

Mary smiled brightly, her curls bouncing. “Hi! Sally, right? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh?”

“All good things, all good things.” Mary glanced down at the laptop screen and furrowed her brow. “I don’t know why Molly put me in charge of picking out a movie, I’m shite at these kinds of decisions. What are you in the mood for tonight? A tearjerker or cheesy?”

Sally settled onto the futon, leaning over the arm so she could get a look at the options. “Why not both?”

Mary’s smile widened. “Oh, I like you.”

“See, I told you she’s fun.” Molly set three heaping plates of curry on the coffee table, next to three empty wine glasses atop coasters shaped like cat faces. She handed Sally a bottle of white wine and a corkscrew. “Sally, you do the honours.”

“So we’ve got a future nurse and a future doctor,” Sally mused as she worked out the cork.

“And a future DI!” Molly added.

“Can I ask you something I’ve always wanted to know?” Sally poured the first glass and handed it to Molly. It looked and smelled like… well, like cheap wine, but it would do the trick.

“Of course,” Molly smiled. “Anything.”

“Have you done any human dissections yet?”

Mary rolled her eyes. “Oh god, don’t get her started.”

Molly ignored her friend and smiled broadly at Sally. “Yes! We took Gross Anatomy first semester.”

Sally winced. “Didn’t it smell bad?”

Molly shrugged. “You get used to it.”

“Noooooo, you don’t.” Mary shook her head before taking a big gulp of the cheap wine.

Sally leaned forward, hoping her questions weren’t too invasive. “What was it like, cutting a person open like that?”

“It was such an honour,” Molly sighed. “I couldn’t stop thinking about what a gift this woman had given to my lab partners and me. What kind of remarkable person gives their body so that others can learn from it? And the diversity of anatomy from one person to another is remarkable! And the pathology we saw! It was amazing! Software models, MRIs and CTs have _nothing_ on a real human dissection when it comes to learning human anatomy.”

Huh. Sally had expected to hear a story that would make her squeamish. The way Molly described it was… rather disarming, actually.

Mary patted Molly fondly on the knee. “And that’s what makes Molly, Molly.”

* * *

Three bottles of wine later, Tom Cruise interrupted Renee Zellweger’s divorcee support group and declared, “You… complete me”.

“Ugh, shut up, Jerry!” Sally threw popcorn at the laptop screen.

“Don’t do it, Dorothy!” Mary shouted just before Renee tearfully admitted, “You had me at hello.”

“Boo!” Sally and Mary shouted in unison.

“Oh stop it, you two,” Molly sniffled.

She actually. Sniffled. Sally could hardly believe what she was seeing.

“You’re not crying over this rubbish, are you?” Sally asked incredulously.

“I don’t know.” The wobble in Molly’s voice was just barely discernable. “I think it was sweet.”

Oh, she was just too cute. Sally could hardly stand it. She leaned forward, brushing her fingers along Molly’s arm. “You saying that kind of line would work on you?”

It had just the effect that Sally could have hoped for. Molly shivered and gnawed on her lower lip. Then, blushing, she replied, “Maybe not from Jerry Maguire, but from the _right_ person, it might.”

“And what kind of person would be the right person?” Sally’s voice came out huskier than she’d realized it would. She angled herself closer to Molly.

“I - I don’t know…” Molly stammered. “Someone smart. And ambitious. A hard worker, who knows what she wants and–”

Sally surged forward, kissing Molly before she could second-guess herself. She cradled Molly’s face in the palm of her right hand and ever-so-reluctantly broke the kiss, her breath misting over Molly’s lips. She didn’t want to push Molly too quickly and overwhelm her.

Molly’s eyes fluttered open, her own breaths coming in pants. “Oh! Why’d you stop?”

As Sally’s lips crashed into Molly’s again, she was vaguely aware of Mary chuckling, “I’ll see myself out.”


	4. Feels Like...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Molly Hooper Appreciation Week Day 3: Feels Like ___ (Fanworks focusing on feelings)
> 
> _Molly woke up wrapped in Sally’s arms. She felt loose-limbed and sated. She wanted to bury her nose in Sally’s hair and take in her scent. She wanted to memorize every inch of Sally’s body. She wanted to wake Sally up and pick up where they’ve left off the night before._
> 
> _But mostly, she wanted to keep things exactly the way they were, at that moment, forever._

Molly woke up wrapped in Sally’s arms. She felt loose-limbed and sated. She wanted to bury her nose in Sally’s hair and take in her scent. She wanted to memorize every inch of Sally’s body. She wanted to wake Sally up and pick up where they’ve left off the night before.

But mostly, she wanted to keep things exactly the way they were, at that moment, forever.

She was a bit proud of herself. More than a bit. Quite a lot, in fact. She, Molly Hooper, had had her first ever one-night stand. And it had been _amazing_.

But also…

Also, she was kicking herself. Because who did she think she was kidding? She had feelings for Sally. She very, very obviously had feelings for Sally. Mary knew it. Hell, Sally probably even knew it. And what had she done about it? She’d gone and had a one-night stand with someone who she really very much wanted more than one night with.

It was not the best decision she’d ever made in her life.

And yet she couldn’t regret it. If that was all they ever had together, it would have been worth it to have just one night with Sally Donovan.

“Mmmmmmm…” Sally rolled onto her stomach and smiled sleepily at Molly, her hair falling over her eyes. “’Morning.” She kissed Molly on the tip of her nose. “I’d give you a real kiss but, you know, morning breath.”

“Er, right.” Molly hoped her disappointment didn’t show. “So, last night. Wow. That was…!”

“It was, wasn’t it?” Sally twisted a lock of Molly’s hair around her forefinger and smiled wolfishly.

“But, you know, this doesn’t have to make things weird or anything,” Molly continued.

Sally lifted her head off the pillow and squinted at Molly. “Why would it make things weird?”

Molly cleared her throat and sat up on the futon, adjusting her pillow behind her back. “It doesn’t have to be A Thing, you know. It can just be a one-time hook-up. It’s fine.” She tried her level best to keep her voice casual.

Sally shot upright. “What? Why would I want that?”

“I know you’re not a relationships kind of person.” Molly pulled the sheet up tight against her chest.

“Says who?”

“Er… my friend Meena?” Molly sneaked a glance at Sally out of the corner of her eye. This wasn’t going as planned. She looked agitated.

“Who?” Sally raked her fingers through her hair.

“You know what, it doesn’t matter, never mind.” Molly swiveled her legs off the futon and made to get up, before Sally stopped her with a hand on her right hand.

“No, it does matter.” Sally’s voice was quiet and serious. “I want to know who’s telling you I’m ‘not a relationships person’ because whoever they are, they’re wrong.”

“I–” Molly glanced about nervously, then sat back down again. “Meena’s my friend from med school. She said she hooked up with you at a party last year. And then she never saw you again.”

“Last year?” Sally raised an eyebrow. “I did a lot of partying last year. Hooked up with some people. It was my first time on my own. Exploring my freedom, I guess.” She put a hand on Molly’s cheek and gently turned her face back toward Sally’s. “Just because I flaked on someone I had just met at a party in my first year of uni doesn’t mean I’m not interested in a relationship with you.”

Molly could feel her heart pounding. She swallowed and smiled tentatively. “No?”

The corner of Sally’s mouth quirked up in a half smile. “I like you a lot, Molly. When you suggested this Galentine’s Day thing… Well, I’d kind of been hoping it would be a date. Not that I didn’t have fun with your friend, but…”

“I like you too!” The words burst forth in a rush. Molly blushed, and took a deep breath. “I… yes. A date would be nice.”

Sally twined her fingers with Molly’s. “So, not a one-time thing, then?”

“Well, er, not unless you want it to be.”

“Molly…” Sally intoned warningly.

“Not a one-time thing.” Molly placed her left hand on Sally’s cheek and kissed her gently.


	5. Nothing Greater Than Sally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Molly Hooper Appreciation Week Day 5: Nothing Greater Than ___ (Fanworks focusing on something/someone Molly loves)
> 
> Sally needs a little pre-finals cheerleading. Molly is more than happy to help. Things get tooth-rottingly fluffy from here on out. That's how I roll.

“Damn it!” Sally slammed her laptop shut. Hard. Fuck, how hard can you safely slam a laptop? It would be just like her to break her laptop just before finals.

“What’s wrong?” Molly gave her shoulders a squeeze and then kissed Sally on the top of her head.

Sally leaned back against her girlfriend and closed her eyes. Thank god for Molly. “This essay is fucking me hard!”

“No fair. That’s my job!” Molly nibbled on Sally’s right earlobe and ghosted her fingers up and down Sally’s spine. No,  _that_  wasn't not fair. Molly knew that always gave Sally the shivers.

“I’m serious, Moll.” Sally turned halfway about in her desk chair. “I’m really stressed out over this assignment. ‘A Comparative Analysis of Offender Profiling Methods’? What the hell was I thinking volunteering for this topic? Why couldn’t I pick something easy like everyone else? Why do I always need to prove myself? God!” She rested her forehead against the chair back.

Molly tangled her fingers in Sally’s hair and gently massaged her scalp. “Because you’re driven. And ambitious. And damned smart! And you won’t accept anything but the best from yourself or anyone else. And I love that about you.”

Sally tilted her head back and gazed helplessly into Molly’s eyes. “Ambition is fine and all, but volunteering for the hardest research topic isn’t going to help me get top marks. Why do I always do this to myself?”

Molly perched on Sally’s lap and wrapped both hands around her neck, firmly but gently holding her attention. “Because underneath it all, you know you can do it, and so do I. Uh-uh-uh!” She raised a single finger to quiet Sally’s protest. “If anyone can kick this assignment’s arse it’s you. Don’t forget, I’ve met the other Criminal Justice majors. With all due respect to the lot of them, you are by far the smartest, hardest working, most dedicated student in your class. You could pick an easy premise and throw something together without thinking, but you never would, because that’s not you. You give everything one hundred and ten percent. And don’t think that people don’t notice. Do you know how many people told me to forget about getting top scores in the same CRIM 260 section as you?”

“They did?” Sally smiled hesitantly.

“Only about half the class.” Molly touched her forehead and the tip of her nose to Sally’s.

“You still managed to ruin the curve,” Sally teased.

“We both did, together.” Molly kissed Sally. Sally wrapped both hands possessively about Molly’s waist and pulled her in closer. Just as Sally slid her hand up under the hem of Molly’s shirt, Molly pulled away, ignoring Sally’s protesting groans. “Now go kick that essay’s arse, and then come join me in bed.”


	6. Hoopervan Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Molly Hooper Appreciation Week, Day 6: ___ Forever (Relationships, either long or short term, of any variety)
> 
> After 2 years together, Molly and Sally are both graduating from uni and preparing for their lives ahead.

Molly set her phone on her desk with shaking hands. She stared at the screen for another few moments before looking up at Sally in wonderment. “I did it. I got the offer.”

Sally grabbed Molly’s hands in both of her own, a smile spreading across her face. “Which foundation programme?”

“North East Thames!” Molly fought back the urge to triple-check her phone. Maybe she had read it wrong. Maybe she had imagined it. Maybe this was all a wonderful dream. Although, it didn’t feel like a dream when Sally wrapped her arms around Molly in a near-crushing hug.

“Babe, that’s amazing!” Sally rejoiced.

“I can’t believe they offered me a spot in their programme in the first round,” Molly wondered if she ought to pinch herself. Even after nearly five years of medical studies working toward landing a spot in a top foundation programme, she could hardly believe that it was actually happening.

Sally stepped back, holding Molly at arms’ length, and looked her critically in the eye. “I can. Of course they did! You are an amazing woman, Molly Hooper. And an amazing med student, and you’re going to be an amazing doctor. North East Thames would have to be nutters not to offer you a spot in their foundation programme.”

“It’s really happening, isn’t it?” Molly smiled timidly. “Everything’s coming together. I’ll do my FP years at North East Thames, and I’m positive Sergeant Lestrade is going to offer you a position at the Yard.”

“I’m still waiting on that one,” Sally warned.

“He will.” Molly slipped her arms about Sally’s waist. “He’s the one that said you were the best student he’d ever had placed with him. _He’d_ have to be a nutter not to hire _you_.”

Sally kissed Molly on the forehead and pulled her in closer.

“We’re graduating, and we’re getting everything we want,” Molly marveled.

“Hmm,” Sally hummed. “Not everything just yet.”

“What?” Molly looked up at Sally. “What more could you possibly wish for?”

“Heh.” Sally looked momentarily distant, then smiled down ruefully at Molly. “This isn’t… quite how I’d planned it. Or rather, I hadn’t planned it yet. But I was going to, believe me. I was going to plan something spectacular. I’d take you out dinner someplace fancy, maybe we’d walk under the stars, find some lovely place to stop and talk…”

Molly’s heart was beating so fast she was afraid she would faint. Was she? Was this? It couldn’t be. Was it? She tried to tamp down her growing excitement. She didn’t want to get her hopes up like some foolish girl.

Sally cupped her hand along Molly’s head, her thumb caressing Molly’s left cheek. “What I want more than anything is to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to marry you, Molly. Not right away. After graduation. When you’re ready. I’ll wait as long as you need. I know it’s crazy, I know we’re young and we’ve got our whole lives ahead of us, but I _know_ that I want to spend my whole life with you.”

Molly tried valiantly to hold back the tears that were filling her eyes. “Yes,” she sobbed. “Yes, I’ll marry you. Yes!” She didn’t know that she’d ever felt so happy, particularly when Sally pulled her in tightly for a giddy kiss.

When they pulled apart, they were both giggling breathlessly. “We’re getting married! We’re getting married!” Molly kept babbling. “Oh my god, I’m going to North East Thames, and we’re getting married!”

“We are,” Sally agreed. She placed a kiss to each of Molly’s knuckles, lingering over the ring finger on Molly’s left hand. “Let’s go ring shopping tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MBBS students complete a 2-year Foundation Programme (FP) following medical school and prior to starting specialty training. They apply and interview for positions in FP’s during their final year of medical school, and in the winter of their final year, FP’s offer positions to students. Students who don’t get an offer in the first round have an opportunity to match with an FP in a later round. Molly, of course, received an offer from her top choice in the first round. North East Thames Foundation School places FP’s in clinical rotations at, among other hospitals, Bart’s. :-)


	7. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Molly Hooper Appreciation Week, Day 7: Free for All.
> 
> If this hasn't gotten tooth-rottingly fluffy enough for you yet, it gets even fluffier this chapter.
> 
> You've been warned.

Molly was front-and-center at the promotion ceremony the day that Sally received her Detective Inspector badge, looking prouder than Sally could ever remember her wife feeling over any of her own many accomplishments. Sally winked in response to Molly’s wave, the only departure from her otherwise perfect stance at attention.

She was positive Greg’s eyes looked a bit misted as he pinned Sally’s new badge on her dress blues. She had simply smiled stoically, giving no outward sign that she had noticed his reaction but oh, she had noticed. She would absolutely make certain to tell the entire department all about how Chief Lestrade had sobbed like a baby throughout the entire ceremony. How City Hall had practically flooded in his tears. Sally was looking forward to milking this story for all it was worth over the next, oh, twenty years at least.

Although, if you really pushed Sally (and if Sally were the sort to talk about this kind of mawkish claptrap, which she wasn’t), she just might have admitted that she was a bit touched to receive her badge from her first mentor at the Yard. She might not have ever made D.I. if it hadn’t been for Greg vouching for her, showing her the ropes, fighting for her when she made the tough calls (even the ones that turned out to be wrong), and advising her in her professional development and career advancement. Damn. She searched for something else to focus on before Greg could be the one telling stories about her crying at the ceremony.

Huh. The frea– no, she’d promised Molly she’d stop calling him that – Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson had both come to the ceremony. Well. That was actually rather decent of them. Watson was smiling and nodding at Sally and almost – almost – looked as proud as Molly did. Holmes dragged his eyes away from his mobile and squinted a half-smile at Sally when the Commissioner read her name off the list of promotees, which, frankly, was more than she would have expected of him. Sally wondered whether Watson or Molly or both of them had guilted Holmes into coming.

As soon as the last round of applause ended and the officers were at ease to join their families and friends, Molly pushed her way through the crowds to envelop Sally in a warm hug. After nearly ten years of marriage, she was still the quiet, determined girl who’d captured Sally’s heart in Bio-Psycho-whatever-it-was-called lab. Molly would protest if Sally said that out loud and would no doubt point out nonexistent crow’s feet and a barely visible thickening at the waist, but to Sally she was still just as lovely as ever.

“You did it, love!” Molly gushed. “I’m so unbelievably proud of you. You’ve made it. You’ve got everything you’ve ever wanted.”

“No,” Sally smiled fondly. “I got all that ten years ago.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! These were fun prompts.


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